Damon Galgut (born 12 November 1963) is a South African

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. He was awarded the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel '' The Promise'', having previously been shortlisted for the award in 2003 and 2010.

Early life and education

Galgut was born on 12 November 1963 in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, South Africa. His father was from a Jewish family and his mother converted to Judaism. At the age of six, he was diagnosed with

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

. Galgut was

head boy The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

Pretoria Boys High School Pretoria Boys High School (colloquially known as "Boys High") is a public, Tuition payments, tuition-charging, English language, English-medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Brooklyn, Pretoria, Brooklyn in Pretoria in the Gauten ...

, matriculating in 1981. He then studied

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

Literary career

Galgut wrote his first novel, '' A Sinless Season'' (1982), when he was 17. His next book, a collection of short stories called ''Small Circle of Beings'' (1988), includes an eponymous

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

that describes a mother's struggle with her son's illness. His novel ''The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs'' (1991) won the

Central News Agency Literary Award The Central News Agency Literary Award (CNA Literary Award, CNA Prize) was a major annual literary award in South Africa. It was named for the CNA chain of bookstores. Founded by Phillip Stein, it recognised works in prose and poetry, and in both ...

in 1992. His next novel, ''The Quarry'' (1995), was made into a feature film, with a 1998 release. A second feature film version was released in 2020. After '' The Good Doctor'', his fifth novel, was published in 2003, Galgut's work became better known outside South Africa. The story of two contrasting characters in a remote, rural hospital in post-

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

South Africa, ''The Good Doctor'' was enthusiastically received by critics. It was shortlisted for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

in 2003 and also won the

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation has presented a number of prizes since 1987. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best First ...

for Best Book: Africa (2003). His novel '' In a Strange Room'' was shortlisted for the 2010

for fiction. Reviewing the novel in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'',

Jan Morris Catharine Jan MorrisJan Morris, Paul Clements, University of Wales Press, 2008, p. 7 (born James Humphry Morris; 2 October 192620 November 2020) was a Welsh historian, author and travel writer. She was known particularly for the '' Pax Brita ...

wrote, "I doubt if any book in 2010 will contain more memorable evocations of place than ''In a Strange Room''." She described ''In a Strange Room'' as a "beautiful" book that is "strikingly conceived and hauntingly written". His 2014 ''Arctic Summer'' presents a fictionalized account, "drawn with fidelity to the historical persona of the English novelist", of the middle years in the life of novelist

E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author. He is best known for his novels, particularly '' A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910) and '' A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous shor ...

, focusing on Forster's years in India and Alexandria. The novel, "a remarkable, lyrical tribute to the remarkable nature of orster'sunderstanding as a human being and as an artist", was short-listed for the Walter Scott Prize. Galgut's novel '' The Promise'' won the 2021

, making him the third writer from South Africa to win the Booker, following

Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognised as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writing has ... been of very great ben ...

and

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee Order of Australia, AC Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL Order of Mapungubwe, OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, and translator. The recipient of the 2003 ...

, who has won twice. Galgut says the theme of the book is time. The original idea came from a conversation with a friend, who is the last surviving member of his family, and told Galgut about the funerals he had attended for his mother, father, brother, and sister. In addition to his novels, Galgut has written several plays. At the time of his Booker win, Galgut was working on a collection of short stories.

Personal life

Galgut is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

and has stated that this leads him to focus on more male-oriented relationships in his writing. Galgut credits the

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

short story "

Pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

" as having had the greatest influence on his writing. He has lived in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

since the early 1990s. He is a keen traveller and wrote much of ''The Good Doctor'' in a hotel in

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

. He describes himself as "obsessed" with

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

, and for some time did not own a car or a television. Galgut has a "fetish around stationery" and writes longhand on notebooks first rather than on a typewriter or computer. After two complete drafts, he then transfers it to the computer. He has used a particular tortoiseshell Parker

fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument that uses a metal nib (pen), nib to apply Fountain pen ink, water-based ink, or special pigment ink—suitable for fountain pens—to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal r ...

since he was about 20.

Awards and honours

Works

Novels

* '' A Sinless Season'' (Jonathan Ball, 1982) * ''Small Circle of Beings'' (Lowry Publishers, 1988) * ''The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs'' (Scribner, 1991; 1992 CNA Award) * ''The Quarry'' (Viking, 1995) * '' The Good Doctor'' (Grove Press, 2004) * ''The Impostor'' (Atlantic Books, 2008) * '' In a Strange Room'' (Atlantic Books, 2010) * ''Arctic Summer'' (2014) * '' The Promise'' (Europa Editions, 2021)

Plays

* ''Echoes of Anger'' (1983) * ''Party for Mother'' * ''Alive and Kicking'' * ''The Green's Keeper''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galgut, Damon 1963 births Living people South African male novelists South African dramatists and playwrights South African Jews South African LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights South African LGBTQ novelists South African gay writers Jewish dramatists and playwrights Gay dramatists and playwrights Gay novelists Alumni of Pretoria Boys High School University of Cape Town alumni 20th-century South African male writers 21st-century South African male writers 21st-century South African LGBTQ people Gay Jews Writers from Pretoria Booker Prize winners White South African people